The C Team

Many of you know, I love Sports, much to Darcy’s chagrin.  I will say that I used to really prefer college basketball to the NBA, but in the era of the one year and done with college, I just have a hard time following it.  Those who know me, know that for the most part I am a “homer”, meaning I cheer for the local team, in our case the Utah Jazz.  I will be honest, we have been so busy the past month or so, that I have done most of my Sports following online.  I just haven’t had the time to sit down and catch an entire game, pro or college.

I would be living on the dark side of the Sports Moon, if there is such a place, if I hadn’t heard of the New York Knicks Guard Jeremy Lin.  Unheralded and virtually unrecruited after a great High School career.  He chose to play at Harvard, for those who don’t know, Ivy League Schools do not have athletic scholarships, so he had to pay his way or get grants and other typess of scholarships to go to college and play basketball.  After a good career at Harvard, no one was knocking at his door, nor calling his name on NBA Draft Day.

He signed a pro contract with the Golden State Warriors and saw very limited playing time as a rookie.  He played well when he had the opportunity, he just didn’t have a lot of opportunities.  After being released by his hometown team, he ended up on the New York Knicks.  After a stint in the NBA Development League he returned to the NBA and was impressive in his first game back.  The Knicks finally saw fit to start him 4 games ago, after that game coming off the bench.  All that has happened in the 5 games that Jeremy Lin has had substantial playing time is that the Knicks have won all 5 games.

In the 4 games that he has started, which are the first 4 starts of his career, all he has done is win and score.  In fact, he has scored more points in his first 4 starts than ANY Player since the NBA and ABA merged in the 1970′s.  In case there are some that may be missing the significance of this feat, check out some of the players that have had their first 4 starts since the merger. Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Le Bron James, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquile O Neal, even the#2 scorer in NBA history Karl Malone. 

Sports fans will tell you that 4 or 5 games don’t make a career, and that time will tell if Jeremy Lin will still be used in the same sentence as those All Time NBA greats, but what a great story!  To a young man that didn’t sacrifice his dream even when it appeared that no one wanted to even give him a chance at the collegiate level, let alone the NBA! 

To me, the moral of the story is, hold on to your dreams!  Learn how to do things the right way, don’t allow set backs to derail your progress, listen to good coaches and above all Never Give Up!  It will be interesting if Jeremy can sustain what he has started, I for one hope that he does!  It is a great example to all of us, young and old!  Jeremy, keep up the Linsanity!!!!

Zion National Park, one of my favorite places!